Monday, February 2, 2009

And about time too!

....and this morning we finally woke up to a fresh crisp blanket of snow. Children were dressed and breakfasted in record time so they could fit in some fun before school....

After slipping and sliding up and down the hill to school - with me carrying Minx's cello! - we arrived to discover the children could go home again.

School wasn't officially closed but so few staff had made it in that they would not be doing much today and told us they would close early anyway. We opted to do what 95% of the parents had done and go home to enjoy the snow. Luckily my work meetings were also cancelled today!!

This is the first time we have had anything near 'proper' snow in the seven and a half years we've lived here and it was too good to miss.

Minx's friend came home with us and Moog and I took them for a lovely snowy walk :-)

Moog went cracker-dog in the snow. Who would believe this nutter is nearly 14?!

Brrr....chillin' out!!

As many of you in the UK will know - 2 to 5cm of snow constitutes 'severe weather'.......thank goodness I whipped these babies up last night then!

Why the clenched fist? 'Cos I saw how old and haggard my hands were looking and couldn't inflict them on you!!

My demanding friend Locket told me I have to tell you how to make these. How can I refuse?

I used Sublime merino wool and a size 4.5mm crochet hook. They are made as a flat piece of crochet and then sewn together into a tube.Here's how to do them:

With main colour - chain 34 stitches, turn and treble crochet (US double crochet) into 4th chain from hook. Treble crochet into every stitch to end of chain. Turn and chain 2, then treble crochet in every stitch to end. Repeat this for every row until wristwarmer is desired length. Fasten off main colour.

Place the two edges together and stitch together to form a tube. Now attach a contrast yarn to the top edge. *Slip stitch into 2 stitches, chain 3, slip stitch into next stitch** repeat from * to ** around top of tube - this gives a picot edge to the wristwarmer.

If you want to you can do a row of contrasting colour around the bottom of the wristwarmer too - I did but forgot to photograph this bit!

I did these in just over two hours last night. Let me know if you have a go too and if you have any problems understanding my rather vague 'pattern'!!

In other crafty news, last week's brief foray into recycled crafts (for work ;-) ) led to me having a go at making some envelopes. We always use loads of envelopes for school notes and I was about to buy some more but decided to opt for a bit of repurposing instead.

I used old envelopes opened up to make a template and then chose some pretty pages from my stockpile of old Country Living magazines, added a white address label and hey presto!

Once started I just couldn't stop......I made fifty!!!....and these are a few examples...

I have no idea if we'll be 'snowed in' again tomorrow. What would we ever do in this funny little country if we had real weather?

So funny that you can skip school because of snow! We are forced to use winter tires during the winter months so no dropping-outs allowed up here! We have some really nice winter wether with sno here, last year January was all wet so it is very welcome!

We NEVER get snow days!!! The kids might get a day off if it's too cold(like when the heating system at school doesn't work...) We have snowtires for the cars, so there's no excuse for not showing up at work or school....Enjoy the snow!

I love the envelopes! I have some old Martha Stewart Living issues that would work well since I ripped out all the good articles.And I don't knit, but I do crochet, so thanks for the instructions on the wrist warmers.

Ohhh can I go and roll in the snow with Moog??? It would have to be better than living with the heat we are having at the moment. Love the envelopes too. What a fantastic idea. I should start hunting through my magazines for pages I could use.

I remember the few instances of snow when I was a kid. We lived only a couple of miles away from school and my Mum was a teacher there. So she felt duty bound to drag me the whole way to school even though we were practically the only ones there. What made it worse was that my brother and sister were at different schools and they had the day off! It's amazing how long these things stay with you!

Hi, I'm Lesley aka Moogsmum. After years of dreaming about it I've finally set up my own business making and selling my handmade bags, brooches, pictures and accessories. I love to sew, knit, crochet, spin and weave. Married to Mr Moog with two lovely teenagers and two wonderful dogs - Merlin Moog, the world's cuddliest border collie, and naughty collie x spaniel Willow Wobbler.
You can often find me on Instagram where I'm @mrs_moog and I blog here about my crafty doings and life stuff.